One of the most hotly watched posts on our website last year was a review of David Fawcett’s Lust, Men & Meth. That gay men’s sex lives were being killed disproportionately by methamphetamine use struck a nerve.
But now a survey of the men who hookup via Squirt.org puts a question mark on that statement and the anecdotal evidence you’ve heard so far. Of the 22, 248 gay and bisexual men who took the survey and use Squirt.org to find sex partners, only 30 percent report drug-fueled sex, also popularly referred to as Party N Play.
Does it mean that the popularity of meth and other drugs including ecstasy and G is waning, or that drug use has gone further under the radar among those who would admit it on a survey?
“Due to the sensationalized coverage of chemsex statistics in mainstream media, we conducted a study of our members to uncover how the practice has impacted communities of gay and bi men, says Attila Szatmari, Digital Business Director for Squirt. “We now have statistics from real people showing infrequent participation in chemsex, not this hyper-usage that seems to be reported in mainstream media.”
The study also showed that only about 39% of respondents said they would consider engaging in #chemsex in the future, while 61% said they would not.
Dr Adam Bourne, an expert on harm reduction among people who use drugs, sexual health and HIV prevention, says it’s certainly not “problem solved,” but that the survey results can be considered encouraging.
“Chemsex is something we have to remain vigilant about, but we also have to be wary of drawing simple conclusions without considering the right evidence,” Bourne says. “Only a small minority of gay men use drugs on a regular basis, and only a minority of those do so in a sexual context.”
The results can also go to targeting services for all LGBT people, gay men in particular, as well as people with substance abuse and HIV challenges going forward, Bourne asserts.
“The reality is mainstream services will continue to provide most of the treatment for LGBTI people, and those services do need greater awareness of LGBTI issues,” he says. “A lot of people don’t feel comfortable accessing a mainstream service—we also need better funded LGBTI-specific services.”
One survey section asked members about protection and recollection of their experience. When asked how much they remember from their chemsex encounters, 85.5% of respondents said they remembered everything to mostly everything and 10% said they recalled half of their experience.
Only 4% said they remembered almost nothing. The remaining 0.5% recalled nothing of the experience. The survey also showed that during chemsex 51% of men did not use protection during anal sex and 93% did not use protection during oral sex.
The drug of choice for study participants who do drugs was crystal meth (36%), followed by marijuana (19%), cocaine (13%), and MDMA, better known as ecstasy (11%).
When asked about chemsex, 67% of respondents knew what it was, showing its presence in the community goes way beyond those who participate. Of those who reported engaging in chemsex, 51% reported they did so more than 10 times, followed by 14% who said they had chemsex five to 10 times. Another 22% reported three to five times, followed by the 8% who said they had chemsex twice, and 5% who said they tried it once.
The survey also inquired about safe sex practices for those who do choose to “Party and Play” (PnP). A majority 93% of respondents said that they don’t use protection for oral sex, while 7% said they did. In contrast, 51% said don’t use protection for penetration, while 49% said they did. In regards to HIV risks, 89% reported that they knew their current status, 63% said they knew the HIV status of their partner
Less than half, 45%, said they disclose their HIV status to their partners. 37% said they don’t know the status of their partner, and 11% reported they don’t know their own HIV status.
The survey continued to dive into the habits of chemsex participants. 23% of men who “party and play” reported they were HIV positive, with 19% saying they were positive, but undetectable, leaving 4% of respondents who were positive but not necessarily undetectable.
Of the 68% who responded that they were HIV negative, 3% were on the HIV prevention drug Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). 9% of respondents said they didn’t know their status. When asked to recall their sexual encounters that involved drug use, 85.5% of participants remembered everything or mostly everything, and 10% recalled half of their experience. Only 4% said they remembered almost nothing, while only 0.5% could recall nothing.
Finally, when respondents were surveyed about their overall feelings of safety, many respondents said they felt safe (40%) or very safe (15%) during chemsex. The rest felt either neutral (31%), unsafe (11%) or very unsafe (3%).
Chemsex occurred most frequently at home (68%), at a private party (62%), at a sauna or bathhouse (41%), or a sex club (29%).
Researchers concluded that advancements in HIV treatment and prevention make it plausible that some MSM may feel engaging in chemsex is not as large of a health threat as it has been portrayed, but that results do demonstrate the need for more vigilance and advocacy for safe sex, including the use of PrEP, while engaging in chemsex.
“This advocacy could positively benefit the gay community overall,” Szatmari says.
Survey information and conclusions provided by gay men’s hookup site and app, Squirt.org.